Chatbots rule! Assessing the usability of rule-based chatbots as interactive guided self-help tool for stress reduction among university students
Keywords
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Issue Date
2021-06-10
Language
en
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Many students experience stress. Although effective approaches to stress
reduction are known, students can be reluctant to seek help. A chatbot is an
interesting solution for this: it allows students to talk about their problems
without actually having to talk to someone. However, chatbot technology
is not advanced enough to have natural conversations. This study assesses
the usability of a rule-based chatbot as an interactive guided self-help tool
to reduce stress symptoms among university students. A chatbot prototype
has been evaluated on its usability based on two usability questionnaires
and one questionnaire that measures perceived stress. The results of this
study show that although the usability scores of the chatbot are decent,
participants who are more stressed experience the chatbot as less useful and
less satisfying than participants who experience less stress. This effect was
mostly present among male participants. Participants almost unanimously
agreed that the rigid structure of the chatbot is undesirable in the context
of practicing a stress-reducing exercise. The proposed chatbot structure
therefore does not seem to be usable as stress-reduction tool for university
students.
Description
Citation
Supervisor
Faculty
Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen